Children sit in a car seat with a restraint system while traveling by automobile. Some car seats can be removed from the car for use as a carrier or for placement on a stroller. Child car seats are generally made with a molded plastic shell covered with a padded seat cover. Harness straps and hardware for securing the child extend through openings in the padded cover and are anchored to the plastic shell. The safety harness comes in either a 3-point, 5-point and 6-point configuration. The 3-point harness has a strap over each shoulder which come together and attach at the crotch. In the five-point harness, a lap belt integrates with or attaches to the shoulder straps, which then attach at the crotch. A six-point harness is configured much like a 5-point harness, but has two connection points at the crotch. Car seat covers generally have multiple openings for threading straps through the cover, allowing adjustments for different sized children. Usually, the upper anchor points for the shoulder straps allow for adjustments to the strap lengths.
Car seats come in multiple sizes and configurations. Generally, car seats are rear-facing for infants and forward facing for toddlers. Convertible seats work both ways, changing from rear facing to forward facing as the child grows. Many infant car seats have a fabric canopy attached to the car seat. The canopy extends over a portion of the car seat to shade children from the sun. Booster seats are similar to toddler seats, but integrate with a car's seatbelt rather than using an integrated harness. Clips or openings position a shoulder belt in the proper location to restrain the child.
Children soil their car seat covers easily. As a result, manufacturers of car seats generally make a removable padded cover that can be laundered. Caregivers, however, find removing car seat covers for laundering difficult. To remove a seat cover, the seat must be removed from the car, the straps must be unthreaded from the openings in the seat cover, and removing chest and crotch buckles from the straps. Replacing the cover requires rethreading the straps through the seat cover openings, properly orienting and rethreading all the buckles, then finally reinstalling the car seat into the car.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,883,701 and 4,891,454 disclose disposable or reusable liners with slits and perforations allowing the liner to fit into many different car seat shapes. Depending on the car seat configuration, the shoulder straps may still have to be threaded through openings in the liner. The disposable liners disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,883,701 and 4,891,454 do not fully cover and protect the factory cover, but rather protect just the seating portion of the padded cover. A need exists for an attractive, easily replaceable car seat cover that does not require removing or rethreading the shoulder straps or removing the seat from the car or stroller.